


A New Light

by TimeL0rdofDestiny



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Moderate Cannon Divergence, My First Work in This Fandom, hopefully the first in a long line of works
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:23:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21995035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeL0rdofDestiny/pseuds/TimeL0rdofDestiny
Summary: An exo warlock who enjoys his solitude, reaching a stagnation with his presumably never ending life finds himself facing a new threat. One that he cannot fight alone, hopefully he can find allies and get back what he lost before the worst.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter: 1 Prologue/Unwanted Brush With Death

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Dragon's Legend](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18431123) by [Will_of_Anubis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Will_of_Anubis/pseuds/Will_of_Anubis). 
  * Inspired by [A Chance Beyond Reality](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21116396) by [SoulofHorus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulofHorus/pseuds/SoulofHorus). 

> As the tags suggest this.. is my first work within the Destiny Fandom, I was inspired to write it after speaking with a couple of new friends about their own works. I hope any who read it enjoy but if not please share some constructive criticism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mission gone wrong thanks to unforeseen events.

How did this happen you may ask for this warlock? On Venus, stuck between conflicting bands of Fallen and Vex, using old rubble for cover even as some explosive energy blasts chipped away at it with not much ammo? He wonders this occasionally, he prefers not to fight but to leave vex alone just didn't sit right with this exo… maybe its the offensive nickname he tends to hear citizens spit out sometimes back in the city.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
A mere two hours prior the exo warlock known as Eclipse-4 was resting on a sun baked slab of rock, portable solar charger connected to a slot in his right arm via a more primitive but working cable wire while he read up on his most recent notes. That was what he liked most, as expected or obvious as that may seem to Hunters and Titans, he liked to takes notes on the 'enemies of the light' as the vanguard and the speaker have labeled the alien species guardians such as himself come across.

"Another sleepless night i take it?" a voice asked, sounding quite bored and expecting the same answer as always.

"Chuckles, you and i both know i don't sleep so give it a rest" the exo joked, knowing how much his ghost despised puns and word play, the long sigh going through his head a confirmation that it worked. "Seriously though little buddy what's up?" he asked, closing his notebook and sliding it into an inner pocket of his green keeper's cloak.

"Vanguard info just radioed that a group of vex are attacking a Fallen outpost, sounds like it could get worse" the now floating shell answered, Chuckles' standard shell formed to give his guardian an aggravated expression.

Weighing the potential outcomes Eclipse sat up, unplugged his charger, then picked that up to return to another inner cloak pocket. "Can't be having that can we? Gotta make sure the Vex tech is broken and try to see if the house Winter fallen run with their tails between their legs." the warlock prattled as he summoned and mounted his sparrow, days of wind "So which way?".

"Ishtar collective, you should know where that is by now guardian" Chuckles immediately answered, earning a sigh just before the pedal was put to the metal.

He was by no means a kinder-guardian, Eclipse had been there when Eris returned with news about Crota, when the Wolf house barred their fangs and the Queen allowed Guardians to visit her kingdom, when the taken began appearing with the arrival of Oryx.... he had been on good teams then. 'Stop thinking about them and her, you know its not healthy' Chuckles messaged, getting another chuckle as the exo sped off a small cliff and did a triple flip.

'Since when am I healthy?' he asked jokingly but he knew his partner was right... no use reflecting on a bad past like that, he swore to never bring it up less he got depressed again. 

Slowing down as the overgrown entrance to the archive came into view only to speed up again and barrel through the open doorway. It wasn't that long a drive, and he quickly jumped off when he heard the unmistakable sounds of a firefight. Crouching low he advanced onwards, swapping to a recognizable heavy weapon, from its paint job to the three barrels it fires from. Peeking his head into the massive library like room he saw a squad of a dozen bodies on each side firing at each other and his admittedly creepy red eyes got just a bit brighter from behind his visor.

'Use a heavy synthesis Chuckles, lets get this done quick' he seemed to order his ghost.

'I thought you wanted the Fallen to run away alive?' Chuckles asked him.

'Never said I wouldn't hurt em too' the two mentally communed to each other, the ghost doing as requested and using a heavy ammo syn, allowing the warlock to load up his favorite machine gun; Super Good Advice. With a final check and pull on the bolt catch he smiled and ran into the fight.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Peeking out from behind his cover Eclipse sneered as best as he could with his robotic features, at least a dozen dead on each side but reinforcements for both just kept coming and with such fire power on each side it was a wonder he hadn't died at least three times by now. It got to a point some heavier rounds had blasted a hole in the roof to allow a skiff to drop direct fallen back up.

'Well shit, this went south quick. Chuckles any more Synths?'

'Sorry Eclipse, that was the last one'. Not the answer he wanted to hear the warlock punched the ground. 

'Even better' he griped, switching to his primary a final duty pulse rifle, quickly peeking out to blast a goblin to bits, getting hit by a couple Vandal wire rifles, one his shoulder the other his chest, forcing him to duck back down. 'Give me-'

'And you call me an idiot!?! If you come out now we're both done for' the warlock angrily stated, shooting down his buddy's request to heal him given the situation. It was a good gesture but not the brightest (pun intended) idea the small eye-bot came up with. So he waited for his inner reservoir of light to mend his wounds, a delayed reaction but the same effect.

Waiting another minute to regain his composure he rose again, throwing a pulse grenade at the remaining fallen, then turning his attention to fire more rounds into vex metal and glass. Cries of death and destruction, the brief thrum of the arc grenade before it vanished. "Ok.. think that's the last of them?" he asked his ghost tiredly, his partner materializing to nudge him to face the piles of deceased... and the odd gas cloud as well as skiff reappearing "Guess not...".

A mad dash to grab what little ammo and reload what he could back behind his small crumbling wall before the new enemies greeted each other was a nice and needed respite. From the cloud emerged a abnormally large hydra accompanied by a pair of minotaur guards, across from it a baron and two vandals in tow and almost immediately the two groups began to fire at each other, the vandals skittering to get behind columns while their baron teleports away from the combined barrage of void artillery.

The hydra paused its firing as the minotaurs moved in, still firing their own small barrage of void blasts. One went for the baron in solo combat, bold but naive, even for a vex as the high ranking eliksni dodged the intended downward jab from the brute of a machine to slice through its shields and body with a small flurry of their swords. One of the vandal guards however wasn't so lucky, the other minotaur had bashed them into the nearest wall then blasted twice making a moderate splatter to follow the sounds of bones and refurbished stone break. The sacrifice wouldn't be in vain though, the remaining two eliksni rushing in with blades to hack away the last minotaur like knives through butter. That was when the last Vex platform began firing again, the vandal going back behind cover while the baron now dared to get in close to slice up the larger model like the previous two. Between the trio of rotating shields and the small force wave it was difficult yet there was progress being made.

The warlock was about to go in, lighting charged up but this time as he began to rise something felt.. wrong, he felt weak and he slumped. Chuckles appeared, single optic wide and pupil shrunk. "G-guardian... something.. i-is... happennnnnning..." the ghost spoke in glitches, turned to slow powered down speech.. before falling to the ground with a soft thud. The warlock was panicking something fierce mentally, first things first however.. clear the last remnants out. Grunting to lift his pulse rifle he hit the remaining vandal, head blasting off and releasing the white smoky ether within the alien's suit. Ditching the weapon to pull out the more manageable sidearm ironwreath-d from a third inside pocket from his robe, he was so glad he got to tailor five pockets as he blasted the last bit of health out of the heavily damaged hydra.

The large vex platform collapsed and set to explode, the baron starting to charge at the wounded scholarly warrior. Unfortunately the arc shield hadn't fully recharged and the hydra detonating kill them, several differing sized shards of metal sinking into the baron's back through the armor. Their dead hand releasing and unfortunately sending one of their two swords at the warlock, straining to dodge he was lucky the electrified blade only chopped off his left arm at the elbow, the metallic limb clanging to the ground to accompany the electric shout of pain that was echoing the now otherwise quiet halls of the old library.

Clenching his jaws shut Eclipse brought the still hot barrel of the sidearm to his injured metal, makeshift cauterizing it to make sure nothing leaked out of the hydraulics of his arm.. since with Chuckles offline he couldn't afford to let it go unchecked less, permanent death at worst. Huffing, tiredly he holstered his sidearm as he slumped down against the still standing rubble, eyes glazing over to where his ghost had fallen on the ground, forcing himself to crawl over to the one constant in his new life. Grasping the shell tightly the warlock got on his knees, bringing his presumably dead ghost to his chest "Hang in there old buddy... j-just need to get to the city is all.. recharge your batteries this time heh.." he spoke to himself, hoping what happened was just a hiccup of sorts.. that can happen with any kind of electronic connection, maybe it could happen to light connections... couldn't it?

He sat there, for ten silent minutes... no reply from his ghost, his grip tightening, if he had tear ducts the exo would be crying right now. The sorrow however was switched to rage, stuffing Chuckles into his robe he stood, stomping over to retrieve his severed bit of arm. No, now was not the time to be sad but to get his shit together and as he thought of possible reasons as to how or what even happened, there was a sinking feeling. Someone or something had messed with the Traveler and Eclipse hoped whoever it was, he got a turn to inflict some damage right back at them.


	2. Memories and Avoidance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still on Venus, the warlock takes a long moment to partially reflect on what he knows of his past as he continues his trek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2nd chapter, sorry for the wait. As previously stated I hope any who read enjoy and if you'd like leave some critic you may have as long as its constructive

No light, and with Chuckles out of commission there was only one thing Eclipse could do.. walk. So he walked... well, more like dragged himself out of the building, staying out of sight of any and all fallen he could but when a group got too close he'd play dead and wait for them to leave. His jumpship was about a half hour sparrow ride, which he couldn't drive properly even if he could summon it due to having one functional arm left. While on his walk he found his mind drifting back into memories he could recall, as most already know about exos occasionally having a reset hence the number associated with their name. He'd been wiped about three times already from what Chuckles told him, though he wasn't so sure since his ghost did tend to lie to him about every fifth thing, a rare or more rather unheard of thing among ghosts he learned. Wrapping his remaining arm around himself, mostly to keep Chuckles shell in place against his mostly metal chest he thought back to when this version of himself first awoke.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
An electronic groan and the bright red, terminator like eyes of the warlock opened, greeted by a starry night. A strange shaped object with its own singular blue eye floating a foot or two over his own face. "Good you're awake again" the thing spoke, sounding irritated, confusing the exo who sat up with another groan.

"What do you mean again.. and-" 

"Your name is Eclipse, you are an Exo of the Guardian class Warlock, a Stormcaller to be exact and you're on reset number three so put a four next to your name whenever you write it down. I'm your ghost, your connection to the light and you in your type of endless humor decided to call me Chuckles" the ghost filled in the obvious blanks the exo was having.

Eclipse was silent a minute or two, letting that info sink in, some words sounded familiar and while skeptical as if on instinct one of his hands shot out some lightning towards the sky, missing Chuckles but not by much even with the ghost darting backwards to avoid the wide burst of arc light. "Whoa... well, ok then Chuckles. Can you also explain what we're doing here then?" Eclipse asked, standing up and gesturing to the area around him, a wide open expanse of grass and dirt and not much else. Where on the planet was he even on to have so much grass and not much of anything else?

"You passed out from using too much arc energy to fight off a platoon of fallen, you even disintegrated one of their walker tanks. Guess using too much power caused you to reset again, good job smart guy." the ghost answered, followed by a laugh like he was humored by that.

Eclipse narrowed his eyes "Thanks I guess... so what now? There a.. some place we can go to so i can have a less what's the word.." 

"Before you finish that thought yes, there is, i'll call the ship back now" Chuckles once again answered and cut off the warlock's train of thought.

"You can do that?" 

"I can do many things guardian, like keep you alive and transmat things for you like the ship, your speeder, even weapons, ammo and armor for you too".

"Awesome... wait you said i'm now Eclipse-4? What.. caused the last three resets.. how long have i been alive?" 

"I've originally resurrected you almost two hundred and fifty years ago next monday, I also have a calendar" the ghost answered the second half of his guardian's question and added another bit about itself, seeming to avoid the first half which concerned Eclipse, such concerns fleeting as the ship Chuckles mentioned came into view, positioning itself to hover over the duo. Turning to face each other the ghost's shell angled to imitate a smile, or at least what one could call a ghost's equivalent to a smile just before the two were transported into the cockpit, the engines roaring shortly after to blast towards the last City and the Tower.

Once more on a reflex Eclipse gripped at the controls like his life depending on it, which it probably did seeing how fast this ship was going. He wasn't even sure, but he could barely make out any landmarks or any real kind of geographical differences so he figured the ship was zooming through the sky like no body's business. "Tower is up ahead, you need a barf bag tin man?" the ghost seemed to jab at his guardian, earning an eyeroll.

"Don't know, you need to look at my manual again? Hope it isn't a 'light' read" he'd joke in response, earning a groan himself. As told however the ship slowed town to almost a calming drive, the exo's jaw opening out of astonishment and awe, eyes going wide at the same time as he sunk in the look of the tower, the wall, and most importantly the Traveler and the last city underneath it.

"Whoa.. and we live there?"

"No, we live just outside the wall" Chuckles answered, sounding very serious and getting a confused expression.

Soon the warlock found that a lie as the ship navigated itself to the tower's hangar bay, main jets cutting off so the several undercarriage vents could maneuver and land more safely. Landing gear pulling out the two waited until they heard and partially felt a thud, signaling the craft had landed, followed shortly the cockpit opened. Seeing another confused expression Chuckles roughly nudged his guardian up "Get out so they can look at it, I'm not transmatting you out now"

"Geez alright alright quit jabbing my back" Eclipse snapped in turn, quickly pulling himself out and with the grace of a metal dodo landed on his feet.. breaking his ankles.

Watching him roll around in pain Chuckles spoke to himself "Note to self, upgrade ankle mechanisms to prevent this or just fix with no upgrades and watch him fail". Note logged he floated over to heal his guardian before showing him around to get reacquainted with the central hub of all guardian activity.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
A brief, quiet or at least as quiet a electronic chuckle he can make and a shake of his head as he thought back to that ship ride, he was like a kid those odd thirty years ago. He bet if anyone who knew his last safe saw him then they'd laugh and poke some fun at him... if they didn't likely hate him, a sigh as he recalled his group didn't part on the best of terms.. hadn't even heard from any of them in at least five years now by his estimate.

'Ok.. out of the archives, beacon still active, that's good. Can still.. track the ship, wow this burns but no, no can't pass out, stay focus-oh shit another fallen team!' he thought to himself, trudging along until interrupted his own train of thought by the presence of another scouting party of Winter. Eclipse ducked behind a still standing tree, throwing himself on his damaged arm electing him to emit a pained groan through his helmet and clenched jaws.

The single captain among the dregs snapped their head in the warlock's direction, staring for half a minute and by some stroke of fate failed to notice the dying guardian. Nothing of note they resumed watching their underlings, a half dozen dregs draging the bodies of other guardians that were unlucky enough to cross paths with the group. Two of each class, a couple titans with busted and blood soaked armor, one hunter with one leg and a couple still bleeding stab wounds through their abdomen, the other had their cloak wrapped around their neck, likely strangled with it. The warlock bodies had some of their elements still clinging to them, cut off from the light when they were going to use their supers as one's chest sunken chest was alight with flames as it was dragged while the headless other had small wisps of void energy flickering from their palms, those two seemed to be the most unfortunate of the dead.

Too far away to really tell what their armor was currently and that he didn't want to move too much in case he made any noticeable noise Eclipse ducked to see and back into hiding every half of a minute. Watching as the fallen were just pilling the bodies up after looking for their ghosts, each one being handed over to the captain, who in turn used what looked like some string or maybe wire to tie the inert sources of light together before notching the group to their belt, spinning the material around the entirety of the outlining shells to keep them in one piece. It was a long single piece and as sickened as he was Eclipse had to give the alien some credit, tying several knots in a wire wasn't that easy, he was also moderately curious where the captain was even storing such a ludicrous thing in their suit.

Still his already beady eyes squinted in anger at the scavenger no doubt feeling like a big shot, anger and a demand to honor his fellow slain guardians roared at the exo to start shooting and normally he would've, gladly, but then that one voice of reason spoke up 'you're in no condition to fight, you die now they take Chuckles too'. That voice usually wins any arguments, still he'd take in any and all details he could of this team in particular and should any cross his path again. He didn't have to get revenge for a group of guardians he possibly didn't know but, a promise is a promise and if one can't hold up their words then those words are meaningless.

The team stayed and communed for what felt like forever but it seems something had happened, the captain had a hand to their helmet, a comm line very likely. Snarls and shouting in the alien language filled the air, guess whoever called this captain didn't like or at least their orders. Quick as the conversation started it ended, the captain spoke to their team earning cries of annoyance? outrage? hard to tell. The group looked loyal though, if them following their leader was a good sign. Passing Eclipse, not even giving the fake dead warlock the time of day... or a blade to his head which he was thankful they didn't seem to notice or didn't care.

Once the group was out of sight Eclipse forced himself to stand, turning himself every which painful way to make sure he was alone then pulled himself to go to the pile of slain guardians. He scanned over their armors, they weren't any he knew at least he thought so, wasn't about to pull helmets off to see, it'd just make him feel even worse. Bowing his head he quietly recited a small speech he heard the speaker say once during a festival of the lost. "I'm.. sorry, i'll try to find them, tell them what happened" he told his former comrades in arms after reciting the speech, giving a more signature warlock bow and trying not to fall over himself onto them. Quick to stand back up straight, he let out a biologically unnecessary sigh, then resumed his walking, beacon signal said he still had a ways to go and he already got a break.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It took him almost three hours to get to his ship, if his ghost was... no. Shaking his head he pushed that thought away. 'No time to think of what ifs and buts... focus you idiot' he thought to himself as he tiredly stepped closer to his space faring vessel, affectionately as well as punderfully called 'Ketch me if you can'. A strained chuckle echoed from his maw as he kept getting closer, walking up to the dust covered green ship to look upon it a moment. "Command code... gather" he spoke up, the underside hatch opening. 'And he thought that was a stupid thing to add' Eclipse thought with a breathless sigh, the ship still had power, of course it did, he could still pick up the beacon so why wouldn't it have power?

Going into a quick dash of a trudge he got aboard his jumpship, collapsing onto the warm metal floor with a pained but oh so excited groan. A short nap wouldn't hurt.. would it? Sitting up with a mock inhale Eclipse slapped himself with his disembodied hand for even thinking such a thing, a nap now!?!? Out of the question! Grunting back up to his feet he threw his arm to a small table he had bolted down to the interior, the lifeless body part making several 'dung' like noises before sliding off to the ground with a clunk. "..I deserved that" he quietly commented, going over to pick his limb up to this time gently place it on the table. "Right.. now the tools. Command code... calm skies" he again spoke more to the ship, the hatch closing with the usual recompressing hiss while the interior lit up. Now able to see a bit better he took Chuckles' shell out of his robes, placing his companion next to his arm, his still functioning arm moving to then awkwardly remove his helmet his 'Spektar infinite hood' as it was called.

With some expected trouble it was another minute before he was able to remove the thing, allowing his pair of horns to extend from his blue camouflaged painted cranium. "Man.. how do hunters do it? Keep their armor on so long out in the field? Almost four hours and I could feel my horn sections clanging against each other" Eclipse gripped, adding his helmet to the now crowded table top. "Ok.. now tools... guess losing an arm does affect my mind heh.. that was awful" he continued to speak now to himself, chuckling a bit before beginning his search for the spare kit of tools his ghost insisted he get for emergencies. It helps to laugh in dire circumstances, some might call you crazy but each person has their own way to cope and that's ok, Warlocks know, they can be crazy but experiencing being crazy helps to identify and sympathize Eclipse found... even if its with yourself. Finding the needed tools and some spare material to boot he borderline stomped back over to the table, knocking his helmet aside for more work space. Tools now on the table he rolled up his torn sleeve and began his self operation.


	3. New arm to home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A not quite complicated look into Exo repairs with a bit of banter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not quite as long a chapter as i was hoping but it seems suitable at least personally

Wires, tubing, scraps of metal, adhesives and heat. Common but important necessities for making a variety of repairs, especially in the ways of metalwork and electronics. This was something Chuckles had told him about, the ghost's words were 'Everyone needs a hobby and to be able to take care of themself'. An unneeded sigh and Eclipse had to admit his buddy was right, which given the current situation has the warlock mentally slapping himself for not paying that much attention, things such as the technical names of the needed materials and tool didn't stick but a majority of the process' steps did. First he had to align the severed half of his arm with the still connected half. Next step, the ungodly pain of turning off his lubricant systems. That'd stop most of it from moving and draining out when he cut the burnt end from his elbow but it'll strain his remaining joint in the process. With a small series of breathless gasps he slowly moved his remaining hand to the toolbox, moving it closer to look inside, a more annoyed sigh to see it was disorganized still, forcing him to rummage around and endure.

The pain would keep him awake, shock had him going immediately after his injury, then fear after crossing the fallen bands, now pain as he dug through an assortment of old and partially rusted over tool to find what he needed. Currently that was a pair of scissors, a clamp, and an bottle full of grey adhesive Chuckles double checked on to make sure it was still usable. "Ok.. still gonna be tricky with one hand but this should be no problem" he told himself to psyche himself up. Clenching his jaws shut his arm went to work, cutting the burnt up piece of tube off, throw the scissors back into the box, then dab the ends of the new piece in some of the adhesive before putting it in place to reconnect the two halves of his arm, groaning loudly the entire time.. and that was quite easily the hardest part. Was it smart to do that first? Depends on who you ask. That done, he took a seat, on the nearby metal stool. If he sat and worked there'd be less chance of messing up, others tended to notice him sway slightly when standing still for too long.

Now for the metal workings themselves, this was irritating since with joints one can't always find a good hinge to replace an elbow or a knee. A makeshift one would have to do, for now at least. A straightened bobby pin, two small matching bits of scrap and a bit of heat should do. Putting the recently used items aside he dug through the box to find the needed parts and a tool his ghost called a 'blowtorch', gonna have to use open flame since arc light was out of the question. Finding the parts he gently placed each of them on the table's surface as they were smaller each would be much more difficult to find on the floor if they fell. A quick double check and he began the simple process of jury-rig himself an elbow.

New hinge assembled after a good minute, now to wield it to be the new joint. He was partially glad the wiring still wasn’t reconnected so he wouldn’t feel more of the new burning pain that’d soon fill his sensors then he was already feeling. Burning one's self is never a pleasant feeling, then again many guardians knew that, whether the burns were from pure solar projectiles, stray arc bolts or intense void blasts. Though they were the ones getting hurt so hopefully the city citizens wouldn't be. That was the dream afterall... except maybe for those in Crucible but that was another sensitive topic for other reasons.

Last, wires... that was going to be tricky so instead of debatabley continuing to rush his fix he’d take his time to intertwine each of the exposed wire ends with a pair of pliers, making sure he’d get feeling back in his reattached hand. ‘Man.. if Chuckles was awake he’d be groaning and telling me i’m doing this wrong heh. I might be but even so, not much else to do to get this done considering the situation’. While most guardians got along with their ghosts or little lights or whatever others call their ghosts Eclipse and Chuckles tended not to get along that often, yet the two were stuck with each other, have been for a long time. A few times Eclipse had to ask himself what does Chuckles get out of it, and most times the exo thought that it was fate or perhaps that no one else could handle or trust a ghost that is able to lie.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A very long feeling thirty minutes passed before all the wires were reconnected and the metal for the new elbow was cool enough to move without worry of breaking. Might’ve helped that there was an air conditioner... or more like five running in the ship, he did enjoy the cold, helped his systems run better. It felt nice to have some time to cool off from the roaring heat of Venus’ jungles and the deserts of Mars. Also always nice to have a place to one’s self in case of uninvited guests at one’s apartment in the tower, rude titans and overly determined door to door salespeople as a few examples.

Slowly Eclipse flexed his freshly reattached arm, testing the strength of the new joint, a slight creek and a squeak, but it was working and currently he’d settle for just working. Arm now fixed up he got the that surge of feeling he was dreading, causing him to once more screech out from pain, thrashing a bit he tripped over his stool and landed face first on the floor.... so not his finest moment. Groaning after a half dozen minutes he got back on his feet, went back to the table to put Chuckles’ shell back in his robe, packed up and put the toolbox where it was originally, not going to risk that stuff going everywhere while flying hell no. That's just a wreck waiting to happen and after everything that happened, the ship was the one thing Eclipse could and would not risk losing.

Fast walking to the cockpit of the vessel now Eclipse got into the pilot seat with a muffled thud, going over the checklist and directions in his head of how to even fly these space faring hunks of metal himself. ‘Engines, green. Navigation, functional. Radar, functional. NLS drive, still going, that’s good. Weapons... offline.. that should be fine’ Eclipse went over in his head, hands roaming the dashboard to adjust the needed controls and devices. With that done a breathless sigh escaped the exo as he gripped the control wheel and began take off.

Outside at the same time a few dregs woke up from a brief field nap to the roaring sounds of engines, both standing up quick in time to see a guardian’s craft slowly raise off the ground with its underside thrusters, landing gear retracting as it turned in an upward direction. The pair attempted to call in their find but the noise from the ship was drowning out the alien voices, the force of the roar like sound increasing causing the two to be blown back just before the warlock blasted upwards into the sky, then back into space. Admiring the void of colors for a moment the warlock then cranked the drive lever as hard as he could to engage it, the ship obeying the action as soon the all too familiar space around the ship turned into its interesting array of colors and patterns. ‘Come on City... you better be there when i show up..’ he mentally pleaded, hoping it was some kind of disconnection for being away from the city too long and nothing else, despite the darker thoughts in the back of his mind clattering on. He knew at least one way or another, he’d find out what was going on when he got back to the Tower and with his ship in good condition it wouldn’t take that long at all.


	4. Hated Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter for Valentine's day, and a brief look into Eclipse's past. Wasn't planned but why not.

One year prior to the events of Destiny 2

"Chuckles date" Eclipse irritably demanded from his ghost. Chuckles materialized over his guardian's head, eye only half lit as he looked over the data.

"Well according to the calendar its February 13th, not that you care for the year. Kinda helps that Shaxx is having his Crimson day's Crucible special again to keep track." the regular shelled ghost answered, getting a long groan out of the exo from the information. "Wait.. seriously? You're gonna do this again? It's been years! She-" 

"Do. Not. I remember.... you can heal my body all you like Chuckles but you should know not all wounds are skin deep...." Eclipse interrupted his ghost's line of questions, snapping his head up to look at him. The two glared intensely at each other for a good few long, uncomfortable minutes before Chuckles floated backwards and upwards into a corner of the provided Tower apartment upper corners.

"Just gonna lock yourself away again because of a grudge? Given what rumors there are I'll give you this is tame" the ghost commented as he watched the warlock pile up stacks of books to the front door, which was just about all of them. The pile started out orderly enough but at some point it dissolved into a basic pile up, not like a warlock to just use their books in such a manner but the exo wasn't about to move his furniture for one day.

"It's not like anyone will be looking for me, other then Ikora perhaps but she has enough on her plate... besides she has been informed, gave her a note last year to explain." he told his ghost, the floating shell giving his guardian a look of annoyed sympathy.

"Can you at least let me shut you down this time instead of what you usually do?"

"Guardians get into friendly fire incidents all the time, especially involving strike missions and rockets" the warlock answered his ghost's question, getting another glaring look. 

"That is irrelevant to this situation Guardian and you know it" Chuckles stated matter of factually.

"I.. look i know... but we both know you trying to shut me down takes time and i'd rather not just be conscious for even a single minute of that accursed holiday" Eclipse replied, starting off sounding calm, his electronic voice growing to almost shouting and seething in anger, a few stray sparks popping off the collar of his off duty shirt.

"Ok ok fair point, don't unintentionally blow a fuse" Chuckles insisted to try and bring his guardian back down to a simmer. "Just... maybe not-".

"Some spare metal, expose a few wires, plenty of sockets" once again Chuckles was interrupted and disturbed by his guardian, choosing not to ask how long he thought about this.

"Can I maybe convince-"

"No and please make a timer to when its almost midnight" a highly frustrated electronic sigh escaped the ghost at this point, getting tired of his guardian interrupting him as he was. He knew Eclipse could be stubborn, some topics more then others just really made the warlock an ass. Still to be so stubborn one would argue is a sign of conviction.

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"Just about midnight guardian" Chuckles informed the exo, having spent the last ten hours sitting on one of the seats of the futon Eclipse had.

"Thank you Chuckles, you remember what to do should someone knock on the door?" 

"Tell whoever it is that you took a nap, as unlikely as it is that someone will bother you." the ghost answered, slowly rising off the seat to float by the warlock. 

"True enough Chuckles.. so very true" Eclipse sighed out, sounding upset as he grabbed a burnt piece of scrap metal the size of a small comb from the kitchen counter, proceeding to wrap a small spare length of copper wire around it. With that in hand he used a bit of force to pull the cap off of his index finger, grunting slightly from the pain but did so to expose his inner wiring.

'I'm going to have to repair that too' Chuckles thought to himself, idly watching as his guardian with some moderate hesitation proceeded to electrocute himself. The power to the whole apartment and the surrounding apartments on the same floor going out from an overcharge.

The ghost simply sighed breathlessly in worry, moving to float and then land on the still smoking body of his guardian to do what was asked of him. Leave him dead for a day, not that it'll do much more psychological damage then the warlock already experienced, and shoo away any curious would be visitors about what had happened. 'Second year in a row... really hope this doesn't happen for much longer..' Chuckles thought or more so prayed, hoping his guardian would not only get over his issues as stupid as they may seem to him but potentially find some new associates that'd help him out of his rut.


	5. A home found broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay of an update, life has been kinda hectic but i do hope this latest chapter is enjoyed

Eyes darted between the view in-front of him and the navigational display to his right, had to make sure the ship was close enough to the surface but far enough as to not immediately crash into anything when Eclipse had the ship exit slip space. That was a very tricky ordeal with no Ghost, which unfortunately for the Warlock, Chuckles doubled as the autopilot in a manner of technical terms. So he'd have to time it right and more or less try to eyeball it, does that sound difficult? Oh absolutely, not to mention obviously very risky.

A slow breathless sigh as he flexed then re-curled his fingers tighter around the controls, grab a sense of the controls then an expanding sense of the ship, feel it. He'd been on his own enough to pick up some tips and tricks. He began to count in his head, basic from ten, nine, eight... seven.. six... five... four... three... hope its not too late, two.. one! He slammed the lever for the drive back to nothing, a small explosion was heard from the back by the engines, guess they didn't like that but none the less the ship slipped out of warp space. If he had pupils they'd probably be as big as dinner plates

The view was something the Exo wasn't expecting... but he had his imagination. Cabal ships everywhere, some odd thing around or was it more like on the Traveler? The Tower... just about a smoldering torch, which may ha-. He couldn't comprehend his array of thoughts as soon his ship was being fired upon, forcing him out of his daze to try and take evasive measures, emphasis on try with just how much firepower the invading army had and Eclipse was just on the outskirts of the city. Turning his ship around as quickly as he could in a roll the hull got a few scrapes from several rounds, sway to the left, some missiles explode above the ship raining shrapnel. Roll back over to the right, several more scratches from large projectiles, maybe some bits of scrap came off a wing. Aileron roll to avoid a fighter going in for a head on collision, a nervous laugh shook out of the Exo from his own crazy flying and the crashing sounds of things in the main cabin 'Guess i didn't restrain those well, shit'.

A moment's hesitation and so many things can happen, or this instance another wing got clipped from an explosive that barely missed the Warlock's ship, sending a small hail of metal against the hull. "Damn it all, come on already!" he shouted, hoping soon the Cabal would give up the chase despite knowing better. The Cabal tended to be relentless, they did not retreat, so it was only a matter of time before he would either be shot down or get far enough away for them to not care.

From the ground several Psions relayed where the ship was going to their superiors so they could adjust the anti-air bombardment platforms, several angles for several guns, and lots of ammo to spare. Several call outs were close, taking small pieces from the wings. The Guardian's luck ran out however when three Psions ordered to fire, the large explosives hurtling through the air at high velocity, arched to go over the ship as it sped off.

A sigh of relief as it seemed the Cabal stopped firing, Eclipse presumed he got out of their range, he was partially right. A mild shock as the proximity alarm went off, confusion going through the Exo's mind as he looked over the dashboard instruments. 'Above? Wait... oh no!' went through his head, he had hesitated, the three projectiles colliding and blasting the top off the ship, tearing open the hull and sending the wings scattering into chunks of rubble, ultimately sending the remainder of the pun named craft hurtling to the surface of the planet with a now dazed pilot.

"Damn... guess this is it..." Eclipse groaned out quietly to himself, if this is how he'd meet his permanent end well, people probably bet it was going to be something stupid that finally did him in. A single chuckle escaped him, guess they were right, too bad no one would know and should he end up in hell he had no doubt he'd find several of his former associates there. He accepted his fate, sitting back in his chair, hands against his chest to cover Chuckles' shell as his now quarter of a ship plummeted into the sparse mountain forest below.  
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Unconscious from the crash, a state the Exo would rather avoid. Whenever he slept there were nightmares, visions some would argue not that he shared what his mind showed him. Some may have been the past, others the future, he wasn't sure. The eyes he looked through in such dreams were always his own but things said and done were different at times, this time his mind replayed an old Crucible match he had participated in. It took place in the place Shaxx had called 'Bastion'.

He laughed, maybe a tad too manically as he fired down on the enemy team from a small hill of rock with his Super Good Advice machine gun. Mostly suppressing fire for his current teammates so they could potentially take the enemy team by surprise. Heavy ammo had spawned again in this game of Clash and he recalled it was payback for the earlier barrage of rockets. Then the sight of the dream glitched would be the closest word, from the littered field on Mars to another from Earth, covered in snow and bodies of Fallen... and Humans, the worst part... he was still laughing. It was for but a second but it had done the job and made him lose concentration, allowing the enemies to counter attack.

Eclipse awoke with a yelp as a Titan's shoulder met his gaze in his dream, breathless pants escaping his metallic mouth as he brought a shaking hand to his face. "Traveler... why did you make titans as you did?" he asked well really himself with a electronic groan, not like anyone else was near or if the Traveler was a deity figure, figured the cage around it now wouldn't have allowed it to hear others from so far.

Looking over himself, aside from some glass and dirt there wasn't much damage that time, pretty sore feeling but that was good at least with worse outcomes considered. His ghost was... still unresponsive but there tucked away, a hollow sigh of relief. Recent events weren't a dream, he kinda wished they were. Still, with another groan the Warlock got up on his feet from where he lay, having been jostled or maybe more like thrown out of his seat from the crash landing. Turning around, an annoyed groan as he saw the open sky. 

"Just. My. Luck." he commented, chances were his gear was either scattered with the destroyed sections of his ship or just simply destroyed, leaving him with no helmet and a sidearm with after a quick check half a clip of ammo left, not idle in the slightest but he was still glad to be alive for the time being.

Cocking his gun he gripped it with both hands, in case of unwanted guests along the way. Eclipse then began his trek, starting with a short hop into a roll out of his destroyed ship onto the ground. Picking himself up with another groan he began walking, not sure where to, he could find a holdout of survivors but he was still moderately close to the city so that was unlikely.

'Hope i do find someone before any of these new Cabal or Fallen find me.. man it'd suck if a taken found me actually' he thought, sending a shiver down his own back from even thinking such a thing. A few self inflicted slaps to focus again he sped up his walk away from the city, turning to look back to see several pillars of smoke and the Traveler on the horizon. Eclipse let the image sink in for a few moments, then snapped his head back in-front of him and went on. His only true home taken and in the process of being destroyed, he hoped many citizens and his fellow guardians made it out of the chaos alive.

"We're gonna need all the firepower we can get..." he muttered to himself as he forced himself to remember some of Ikora's teachings, not to let his anger control him. That was the thing though, as angry as he got it never did, at best it was a guide so one could say spite urged him on. Spite for the Cabal, spite to see them run and beg, such thoughts while certainly a little concerning brought a small lip-less grin to the Exo's face as he got further and further from the smoldering refuge of humanity.


End file.
